


Whole New World

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Crack, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 10:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18755050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: for prompt fill 88: Awaken. Had some fun with Adi and my habit of talking to myself with this one. :D





	Whole New World

**Author's Note:**

> for prompt fill 88: Awaken. Had some fun with Adi and my habit of talking to myself with this one. :D

 

Her ears were too short.

Of all the things about this scenario she could have latched onto, she’d chosen that one. Her ears were too short and the rest of her wasn’t short at all and-

“What the...?” The words were hers but the voice wasn’t.

_“You got me.”_ That was her voice, but it hadn’t actually been out loud. She looked around, gaze finally caught by the notebook, pages lined(which was genius; why hadn’t she thought of that?), and the current one half-filled with _dark-pink_ writing. She squinted at the words, pulled off the spectacles she didn’t need(why was she wearing them?), tried again.

This whole thing was weird enough it wasn’t too much of a surprise when she recognized the events of the story on the page. But-

_“Why write **that** down? It was one of the worst experiences of my life, almost cost me one of my best friends, I’d just as soon forget it **happened** -”_

“Because people like emotionally compelling stories and hurt/comfort is popular, even when it’s platonic and-” her head cocked. “Why am I arguing with myself about this?” The spectacles went back on, nudged high on her nose.

_“Who says it’s with yourself?”_ she protested.

“Well, me, ‘cause you’re just a voice in my head.” A beat. “Right?”

_“...I don’t think I am._ ” Abydon’s forge, the spectacles were giving her a headache. “Well...” She looked down. Folk? She wasn’t _folk_. And there was a _tattoo_ on her arm.  _“Not **just** a voice. Since I think I **am** ‘in your head’.”_

“Wait. Adi? You’re actually...?”

_“Real?”_ Adela giggled. _“Yes. Or I was. Thought I was, well, **done** , but apparently not.”_

“Well. Okay. So... is this... are you, like, Iselmyr? Is that what this is?”

_“I think so, though hopefully I’m not so pushy,”_ Adela replied, almost laughing despite--because of?--the weirdness of the situation. This was _fascinating_.

“So, um,” she glanced at the notebook, feeling a twinge of sheepishness that was sort of... disconnected, probably from the freshly Awakened kith she’d become. “I guess writing about that is what... Woke you?”

_“That was definitely impactful enough to qualify,”_ Adela said wryly, the memories fluttering near the surface at the reminder. Panic, terror, helplessness, skittering distraction for _weeks_ bleeding into eventual relief that surpassed words when she dodged that loss by the skin of her teeth.

“Okay, now I feel like I need to apologize for bringing that up. I knew it was _bad_ , but not _that_ bad, and I wouldn’t’ve-”

_“What do you mean you **knew**?_” Adela interrupted, more curious than angry.  _“How could you **know**?”_

“I’ve been, um, writing stories about you for ages; I just thought you were... y’know, a character I made up. Didn’t realize it was actual _memories_. That’s sorta neat.”

_Neat’s one word for it,_ Adela thought, wondering if the New Her could hear that, too.

“Yes.” There was amusement in the voice. “I know, it’s _weird_ , too.”

_“That’s closer.”_ Adela was about to crown it the weirdest thing that ever happened to her, before she remembered the day the adra under Caed Nua dropped an elf who was likewise The Watcher in the far reaches of her basement. The cycle of rebirth was technically normal, Awakenings were rare but not unheard of, so _this_ was less weird than _that_.

“Yeah, Tavi wasn’t too happy with me for that at first.” A pause. “Shit, does that mean she’s in there, too?”

_“I think it’s just me?”_ Adela replied, amused but uncertain. _“Doesn’t feel like I have company.”_

“Oh, good, so no Maerwald situation incoming.”

_“For now.”_

“Thanks, that’s very comforting.” She ran one hand through her (much shorter than remembered) hair. Adela wondered what color it was now. “So, uh, while this is going so well, any chance you could let me remember the rest of what happened those days you and Heodan were stuck in Brighthollow? During the snowstorm? ‘Cause I’ve had that story half-written for weeks and I’d really like to finish it sometime soon.”

_“Oh. That.”_ Adela laughed. _“Mm. I think letting it come up naturally is probably better.”_

“Please?” She was _almost_ as desperate as the wheedling implied. “I’ll show you the internet. It’s like the biggest library you ever saw, times ten. You can learn anything your heart desires, from history to languages and everything in between, whatever you want.”

Now that was tempting.  _“Well, maybe letting a few things surface wouldn’t hurt. And it would distract from this one, right, so two birds. First, though, are you.... writing in **pink**?”_

“Huh? Oh, yeah, there’s ink in every color of the rainbow and then some. You’ll see, but later.”

She really wanted to remember(know?) about Brighthollow. And since Adela rather enjoyed those memories herself, there wasn’t any harm in dwelling on them again. It would make both of them happy. _“You don’t need to nudge, just let me concentrate...”_

She’d drifted back to the memory many times in her life, so it was an easy one to call to mind, and far more pleasant than the one that Awakened her to this strange new life where she was tall and her ears were short. But from the doubled sense of eager curiosity, it was fairly clear some things had stayed the same.

 

**Author's Note:**

> WOW that was weird to write. xD Good weird but weird. I almost went with Emiri for the Watcher, but I’ve already done a “future life” Awakening with her, and Adi’s closest to me, personality wise, so she got the honors. Also, I loved the mental image of my insanely curious, knowledge thirsty daughter being tempted by/introduced to the internet too much to pass up. And got to semi-roast myself for being stuck on that stupid Trapped Together Heodi fluff piece. :D Wins all around.


End file.
